First Kiwi Convicted of Illegal Downloads

The legislation stipulates that anyone found guilty of three or more illegal downloads must be charged, and can be fined up to $15,000.

The tribunal found the unnamed user’s account was used to download one song twice, and another song illegally, using peer-to-peer software.

The tribunal fined the defendant, who acknowledged downloading one of the songs, $6.57 to cover the cost of buying the infringing songs from iTunes, $250 to recoup costs incurred by rights holders in bringing the case, and a further $360 as a deterrent.